From a 2017 review of the historical evidence carried out by the Kent Gardens Trust:

"SUMMARY OF HISTORIC INTEREST
An informally laid out garden, open to the public, created in 1971 by Fred Cleary
to demonstrate sustainable and organic methods of horticulture, and to provide a
place of peace and beauty. The wider area in which the garden lies has long
been associated with the defence of the country.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The Pines Garden is situated in, an area which was unimproved downland until
the 1920s. During the Seven Years War (1756 – 1764) and the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars (1798 – 1815) the area around Dover was important for
defence against invasion and the sheltered site close to the coast was used as
barracks to house detachments of cavalry and infantry. The name Barracks
Bottom given to the site on the 1st edition OS map (1862 – 1875) and the nearby
guard house are relics of those times.

Development of the area above the cliffs to the north-east of the Garden
commenced in the last decade of the C19 when the railway was extended to
Deal. Land around the small village of St. Margaret’s At Cliffe, which in 1800 had
only 28 households, was sold by the executors of Lord Granville (1815 – 1891), a
substantial local landowner, to the St.Margaret’s Bay Land Company and St.
Margaret’s Road and Beach Road were constructed by 1929. The 4th edition OS
map (1929 – 1952) shows a number of substantial houses to have been built
along St. Margaret’s Road on the west side of the future Garden including one
called The Pines towards the north end of St. Margaret’s Road. The triangular
area between St. Margaret’s Road to the north and Beach Road to the south
appears from the 4th edition OS map to have formed the garden of The Pines.
This is confirmed by a 1959 Land Registry Plan which shows the southern
boundary of the Pines Garden lined with trees and running south of the house
from St. Margaret’s Road south east to Beach Road. It seems likely that this area
and the three building plots on the south west side of the present garden
adjoining The Crescent and Beach Road shown on the 4th edition OS map would
also have been built on if the ambitious plans of the company had come to
fruition. The economic downturn during and after the First World War may have
contributed to the failure of the St. Margaret’s Bay Land Company which was
wound up insolvent in 1929. A number of houses were built in the vicinity of the
Garden in the subsequent period but the area which is now The Pines Garden
remained undeveloped until it was bought in 1971 by Fred Cleary (1905 - 1984),
the founder of Haslemere Estates a substantial property company. Cleary
established the Garden in order to demonstrate to the public sustainable and
organic methods of horticulture and provide a place of peace and beauty for its
visitors.

Fred Cleary was a notable philanthropist who, in the 1950s, established the
Cleary Foundation, a charity devoted to promoting the arts, conservation and the
natural environment. He was responsible for buying derelict bomb sites in
London after World War II and converting them into green spaces for public
benefit. For this reason he was known as ‘Flowering Fred’ and was awarded the
CBE. A garden near St. Paul’s Cathedral was created in his memory and named
after him.

Since Fred Cleary’s death The Pines Garden have been managed by the Bay
Trust, a registered charity with educational and environmental purposes. The
informal layout with a lake and many mature trees is managed organically and
with natural sustainable methods.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING
The Pines Garden is situated approximately 0.25km south of St. Margaret’s Bay,
0.5km south-east of St. Margaret’s At Cliffe and 4km north-east of Dover. The 2.4
ha Garden occupies a shallow sheltered valley which runs south-west from St.
Margaret’s Bay, between the chalk cliffs which rise sharply on the north-west side
and drop down to the sea to the south-east. The site is bordered to the northwest
by St. Margaret’s Road and private gardens; to the east by Beach Road;
and to the south and south-west by The Crescent linking these two public roads.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The entrance to The Pines Garden is from the north end of Beach Road through
iron gates into a stone paved area bounded on the north-east side by a low
retaining wall containing two small linked pools. Beyond this steps lead up to a
single story C20 building housing the offices of the Bay Trust which manages the
Garden. A wooden gate on the south side of the paved area leads through to the
garden.

GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUNDS
Immediately to the north of the entrance gate is a small area of shrubs and
herbaceous planting through which winds a narrow gravel path. This area is
known as The Poetry Path and poems are inscribed on wooden lecterns along
the path. Close to the south side of the entrance gate is a circular brick paved
area covered in summer with a Yurt structure with seating for the use of the
Garden’s Tea Room which stands immediately across Beach Road. A short
distance beyond the paved area is a brick and flint raised flower-bed. A winding
paved path leads south from the entrance through open grass to a bridge over a
large pool which lies across the centre of the garden. On the south side of the
pool on a mound stands a bronze statue of Winston Churchill by Oscar Nemon
(Churchill was acquainted with Cleary), and from this point looking north there is
a glimpse of the white cliffs of St. Margaret’s Bay and the sea beyond.
On the south-east side of the garden are a series of small pools with substantial
rock work creating an informal cascade falling into the main pool. A pond is
shown on the 4th edition OS map and on the 1959 Land Registry Plan a little
further north in the garden of The Pines which may subsequently have been
incorporated into this water feature. Beyond the pool a mown grass labyrinth has
been created and in the far southern corner of the garden a reed bed system has
been installed to purify water for use in the Garden and the Pines Calyx
conference centre. The south-west corner of the garden is used to grow
vegetables organically in raised beds. Nearby a curious and interesting feature
has been created by placing the rescued façade of a demolished C17 London
building horizontally in the ground and using the apertures as small flower beds.
Numerous mature trees stand informally arranged in the open grass throughout
the garden and substantial shrubs screen the south-east boundary and some
may have formed part of the boundary screen for the garden prior to its purchase
by Fred Cleary. A rare Montezuma Pine (pinus montezumae) stands close to the
entrance to the gardens.

The Pines Garden has been managed organically since 2001.

PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES
The Pines Calyx conference centre stands close to the north-east boundary
approximately 50 m to the north of the entrance and is built of rammed chalk
using innovative modern systems of design and construction and sustainable
methods of providing heat and energy. Two connected roundels form the
structure each of which has a domed turf roof. The building has won several
architectural and environmental awards" (1)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2017, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Dover : The Pines (Unpublished document). SKE51720.